postal scam from Belize

Not rugby related I know, but from a reliable source and confirmed by trading standards

" A card is pushed through your door suggesting a delivery company PDS (parcel delivery service) were unable to deliver a parcel, and asks you to contact them on 0906 6611911. This is a premium rate number and you should not ring it. If you do call and receive the answerphone message you will already have been billed £315. If you receive such a card contact Royal mail fraud "

There is a contact number attached for Royal mail fraud office, but for all I know that's a bogus number too - best check for yourselves.

Its a real old one that and dates to a chain email sent around 2005 when before ISP based spam filters that kind of thing was common. Heres a statement that was published about it back then.

A STATEMENT FROM PHONEPAYPLUS ABOUT THE CURRENT 'POSTAL SCAM' CHAIN EMAIL

PhonepayPlus, the phone-paid services regulator, is aware that a chain e-mail about an alleged postal scam is being circulated on the internet. The email refers to the Royal Mail, Trading Standards and ICSTIS (PhonepayPlus' former name).

PhonepayPlus appreciates that recipients of the email may want to find out more information about the alleged scam and has therefore issued the following statement:

The chain email refers to a service (operating on 0906 6611911) that was shut down by PhonepayPlus (then ICSTIS) in December 2005.

PhonepayPlus subsequently fined the company that was operating the service, Studio Telecom (based in Belize), £10,000.

The service is NO LONGER running and has NOT been running since December 2005.

You do NOT need to contact PhonepayPlus, or the Royal Mail, about this service as it was stopped almost four years ago.

If you receive a copy of the email warning you about the alleged scam, please do NOT forward it to others. Instead, please forward this statement from PhonepayPlus.

If you receive a delivery card through your letterbox which you do not believe is genuine and which asks you to dial a premium rate number, you can contact PhonepayPlus on 0800 500 212 (Mon-Fri,8am-6pm) for further guidance.

Please go to http://www.phonepayp...output/FAQ.aspx for useful information about how to recognise phone-paid services and understand what they cost, and some simple tips to help you enjoy using services with confidence.

Yeah - I think many of us are pretty well clued up (and cynical enough) to regard everything as suspicious, but many of the elderly are not as streetwise as BSJ and are therefore particularly vulnerable. What sticks in my craw though, is that phone bills generated fraudulently, but not paid, are presumably still regarded as payment default and therefore open to the full weight and stupidity of the bewigged buffoons who run a legal system that all too often protects the rights of criminals above those of the victims.

It's simple, you can't run up a bill of hundreds of pounds straight away. Those premium rate numbers cost, at most, 2 pound odd a minute, so you'd need to be on the phone for about 2 hours to get a 300 quid bill.